Posts Tagged ‘HRNUG’

Why You Should Attend MADExpo 2011

Posted on March 28th, 2011 by Kevin

A couple weeks ago we announced that we’re going to be holding our first regional event here in the Mid Atlantic, and the name of that event is MADExpo (Mid Atlantic Developer Expo). Scheduled for June 30th – July 1st. It’ll be held at the Hampton Roads Convention Center in Hampton, VA.

Last week, we announced our pricing as well as opened up registration. Early bird pricing starts at $99 and will run until May 1st. After that, full pricing begins at $149.

BUT KEVIN?! Code Camps and stuff are free!

That’s correct! But code camps also have a fraction of what MADExpo is going to have, and suffer from regional fragmentation. The goal of MADExpo is to unite all developers in the Mid Atlantic, and our sister regions, for two days of awesome developer content.

What should I look forward to?

Most code camps have a very “Microsoft” feel to them. .NET this, C# that. At MADExpo, we’re making certain that you have the opportunity to explore other avenues of software development. If you’ve been curious about Ruby, we’re bringing in sessions built for you. Have you seen people working with touch screens and Natural User Interfaces? We have leading experts in the field to show you how it’s done!

There are beginners topics, and more advanced topics that’ll make you scratch your head.

But wait! There’s more!

Additionally, we’re adding a full day side session devoted to electronics and hacking. If you’re into soldering, or thought it looked interesting, take a talk through our own mini-Maker’s Faire. Learn from geeks just like you who are building crazy machines with Arduino and code!

But I have kids…

Bring them along! We’re proud to announce a one-day MADKidz workshop for kids of all ages. This event will help your youngster learn more everything from software developer to electronics.

The other tangibles

This event is also about networking. Meet other developers from other parts of the country (and maybe even different countries!) Exchange ideas, discuss issues, and have fun! I will always say that some of my best friends have come from the event I’ve attended.

The hidden secret

Want a free pass to MADExpo? SPEAK! Events like this are terrific opportunities to get out and flex your presentation muscles. No developer subject is taboo. Submitting costs nothing. Go to http://madexpo.us/speakers to submit a talk!

Or just register!

Go! Register for MADExpo right now. It’s worth it!
Test Driven Development Firestarter

Posted on March 7th, 2011 by Kevin

Test Driven Development is one of those topics that is heavily preached throughout the community, but very few developers are taking advantage of.

Two of our locals, Perry Neal and Jeff Muller, have decided to put together a one day workshop for folks that want a hands on “real world” approach to doing Test Driven Development. Perry and Jeff are great fixtures of the Hampton Roads developer community, and we’re excited to see this come together.

Additionally, we’re excited to be visited by Dane Morgridge from Philly to assist Perry and Jeff in promoting TDD.

Seats are limited, so please register soon!

Here’s the details:

When: Saturday, April 30, 2011 from 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM

Where: InfoTec, 100 Constitution Drive, Virginia Beach, VA 23462

Register today! http://hrtdd.eventbrite.com/

Hope to see you there!
Introducing Blend-O-Rama

Posted on June 21st, 2010 by Kevin

Silverlight and WPF are starting to pop up all over the place. XAML is on the web, on your phone, and soon coming to other devices. Developers are starting to embrace this technology, but tools such as Expression Blend are still not being fully embraced by designers and developers a like.

My good friend, Joel Cochran, is what you would call an Expression “freak”. Seriously! In Joel’s mind, Expression Blend is the greatest thing since the AS-400. Many times we’ve joked about Joel doing a single day of nothing but Blend related talks. He was *this* close to getting that wish at the last Richmond Code Camp.

A few weeks ago, I decided it was time to give Joel his dream. Using the resources of the Hampton Roads .NET Users Group, we’re presenting Blend-O-Rama. During the week of July 19th, we’re going to present 5 “lunch and learn” web casts on Expression Blend. Joel will take you from zero to hero in 5 days.

There is plenty of room in the LiveMeeting. If you want get in on the action, head over to http://blendorama.eventbrite.com and register now! We’ll use this registration to let you know the URL of the LiveMeeting.

Still not sold? Check out this agenda:

July 19th – An Introduction to Expression Blend
Microsoft Expression Blend is the premier GUI editor for WPF and Silverlight applications.In this presentation you will receive an introduction to the Blend UI and how to use it to quickly and easily build an application interface. Topics will include Configuration, Layout Controls, how to leverage Blend with Visual Studio, and more.

July 20th – Data Binding in Expression Blend
Data Binding is one of the key features of WPF and Silverlight. This presentation demonstrates and explains the Data Binding tools and features of Blend. Includes discussions of Data Context, Value Converters, Element Binding, Sample Data and more. With these tools you really can bind anything to anything.

July 21st – Templating in Expression Blend
An introduction to using Microsoft Expression Blend to leverage Templating in WPF and Silverlight applications. Templates provide a powerful way to enact GUI changes in the application presentation layer without requiring code behind manipulation. The power of Templating provides unlimited potential for enhancing your GUI.

July 22nd – Animating Business in Blend
Discusses how to use animation to enhance line of business applications and demonstrates how to create and employ them in Blend. Topics will include Animations, Triggers, Events, and the Visual State Manager.

July 23rd – Advanced Topics in Blend
Discusses how to take Blend to the next level. Topics will include Behaviors, Graphic manipulations, Audio and Video, Theming, and more.

REGISTER NOW!
Watch HRNUG Live Tonight!

Posted on June 8th, 2010 by Kevin

Dane Morgridge will be giving his talk tonight at HRNUG over LiveMeeting. You can join in the fun too! The meeting starts at 6:30 PM EASTERN TIME!

Getting Started with Entity Framework 4

With .Net 3.5 Microsoft release Linq to Sql and with .Net 3.5 SP1 came the Entity Framework, both powerful ORM tools leveraging Linq technology. Entity Framework v1, while usable, was definitely lacking some important features and the Entity Framework team delivered with version 4 coming with Visual Studio 2010. In this session we will look at Entity Framework 4 from the ground level and you will get a solid understanding of it basic principles. We will also go through all of the new features in Entity Framework 4 and see how far it’s come since the initial release. If you’ve never taken a look at Entity Framework, now is the time as version 4 is the real deal.

Bio

Dane Morgridge has been a developer for 9+ years and has worked with .Net & C# since the first public beta. His current passions are Entity Framework, WPF, WCF, Silverlight and LINQ and is currently a Microsoft MVP for Data Platform Development. He works mostly with C#, but is also a big fan of whatever new technology he happens to come across. In addition to software development, he is the host of the Community Megaphone Podcast and also enjoys dabbling in graphic design, video special effects and hockey. When not with his family he is usually learning some new technology or working on some side projects. He is currently working as the Development Manager & Architect at Roska Digital in Montgomeryville, PA. He can be reached through is blog http://geekswithblogs.net/danemorgridge or on Twitter @danemorgridge.

Livemeeting Information

URL: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/mvp/join
Meeting ID: DMFCP8
Entry Code: drDkKG/h4
2009 – Year In Review

Posted on December 31st, 2009 by Kevin

DISCLAIMER: Because it has been brought to my attention that this might be an issue, please note that this blog entry was written last night around 10:00 pm. It is scheduled to be published at 11:00 am on Thursday. The reason for this is because I’m aiming for lunch time readership. Thank you and now back to our regularly scheduled blog post…

Another year has come and gone, and I feel that 2009 has been a great step for me in my career and my community contributions. Taking a look back, here are some of my major accomplishments.

Speaking

Last year, I was not a community speaker. I was just a guy that you saw at the code camps and user group meetings. However, I made a commitment during MSDN Dev Conference in Washington D.C. last year that I would speak at the Roanoke Code Camp in March 2009. That just started a chain reaction, leading into more and more speaking in the developer community.

Here’s a line up of the speaking arrangements I had in 2009:
- - February 10th, 2009 – Hampton Roads .NET Users Group – (Presenter, What Is This WPF Thing?!)
  - March 7th, 2009 – Roanoke Code Camp – (Presenter, What Is This WPF Thing?!)
  - April 25th, 2009 – Richmond Code Camp – (Presenter, What Is This WPF Thing?!)
  - May 23rd, 2009 – NoVa Code Camp – (Presenter, What Is This WPF Thing?!)
  - September 19th, 2009 – Raleigh Code Camp (Presenter, jQuery From The Ground Up)
  - October 3rd, 2009 – Richmond Code Camp (Presenter, jQuery From The Ground Up)
  - October 10th, 2009 – NoVa Code Camp (Presenter, jQuery From The Ground Up)
  - October 17th, 2009 – Philly Code Camp (Presenter, jQuery From The Ground Up)
  - October 22nd, 2009 – Old Dominion University (Presenter, Windows 7 for Developers)
I’m proud to say that I already have committed to the same number of speaking engagements, and that’s not including Code Camps or larger conferences. This list also does not include SharePoint Saturday’s, MSDN Events, and User Group meetings that I attended as a community cheerleader.

Speaking opened up a new world to me. In college, I didn’t speak in public too often. It’s not that I had a fear of speaking, it’s that I wasn’t practiced at doing it. By having to put together sessions, and constantly interacting with audiences, I’ve grown quite a bit as a speaker. Now I look forward to speaking, and I hope for the largest crowd possible.

Blogging

I started this blog in late 2008. For 2009, I wanted to make it a point to update the blog on a regular basis. The term ‘”regular basis” is subjective though. For me, a regular basis was once every two weeks.

That’s going to change in 2010. I’ve found that everything is bloggable (is that even a word?). My biggest problem is remembering that I have stuff to blog about, and I’m making efforts to remedy that.

Writing

2009 allowed me to write my first two professional articles. They sort of came by chance. A good friend of mine, Steve Presley, passed me a note about an opportunity to write two articles for DeveloperFusion about developing for Windows 7. So it happened, I was playing around with Windows 7 developer tools. Everything worked out, and I ended up writing two introduction articles for Windows 7 developers.

Very exciting!

Hampton Roads .NET Users Group

By far, my biggest achievement this year was the starting of the Hampton Roads .NET Users Group. Before I start the group, it had been years since this area had a group solely focused around .NET and Microsoft technologies. Susan was running the SQL Server and SharePoint Users Group, and doing a great job. However, I felt there needed to be more developer centric discussion every month. Through the help of Susan Lennon, Andy Leonard, Kevin Hazzard, Darrell Norton, and others, the Hampton Roads .NET Users Group took off.

I couldn’t have done any of it without the local developer community. They are the glue that holds this group together. We can’t have a user group without users, and month after month we have a great turnout. On January 12th, we’ll be celebrating our 1st anniversary! I can’t wait!

2010

2010 is going to be a great year. I have many goals that I’m going to carry over from 2009, and try to expand on. But that’s for another blog entry. I hope everyone has a happy new year! Thanks for helping me be successful!

- Kevin Griffin
Hampton Roads .NET Users Group – 1st Anniversary!

Posted on December 15th, 2009 by Kevin

RSVP today!
HRNUG Version 2.0

Posted on December 7th, 2009 by Kevin

On January 12, 2010, the Hampton Roads .NET Users Group will celebrate its first anniversary. Running a user group is a huge undertaking, but the rewards are priceless. I’ve met dozens of new people, many of whom I interact with on a weekly basis. We’ve had 12 awesome speakers come visit us. With the turn of the new year, I think it’s time to take HRNUG to the next level (or the next version).

Here’s a list of my plans for HRNUG Version 2.0:

New Website

Some time in January, we will be releasing a new website. The current basic template is nice, and it’s served its purpose. However, I feel that HRNUG should really have a top notch web site. In order to fulfill this, I’ve been working on a Silverlight version of HRNUG. It will include several new features, most of which you’ll have to wait for the release to see. My hope is to release the new site in January.

Emails

Currently, we have a single email address for HRNUG, and it ends in a @gmail.com. That’s not providing the level of professionalism that I would like HRNUG to express. A few weeks ago, I registered HRNUG with Microsoft Live Domains. All email will now come from our domain. This will help prevent emails from going into spam filters. Additionally, I can now have a email address for our newsletter and job offers.

RSVP

We’re going to be updating our process for RSVPing to HRNUG. RSVPing is an important aspect of a user group meeting. Our sponsors pay for food and drinks for all the attendees. However, if they don’t know how many people are coming, it’s possible that food could run out before the people do. As a courtesy, we ask members to RSVP for the meeting.

Our current solution, ClickToAttend, has one flaw. Users are required to have a Microsoft Live account. I discovered that not everyone has a Live account, nor has the ambition to register for one. Because of this, we miss out one several RSVPs.

The new system will be integrated into web site. Users can either RSVP from the main page, or directly from the Newsletter. We’re hoping that this will entice people to RSVP early. Sometimes that lack of food isn’t enough.

Sponsors

HRNUG has some great sponsors, and we’re looking to obtain more. The current website was not designed to show off our sponsors. In HRNUG v2.0, I’d like to make the sponsors stick out some. I’m hoping that this will help us bring on more sponsors, but show existing sponsors that we really appreciate everything that they do for us.

Promoting Growth

The largest hurdle for HRNUG will be growth. My goal for the group is for it to grow more and more. In order to do this, we need to get creative with ways to get users to the meetings. Majority of our users are repeat attendees. I would like to see a high percentage of new members. This can only be done by introducing the group to people that haven’t heard of it. Starting in January, we’re going to start a SWAG enticement program. If you bring a friend or coworker, we’ll give you a ticket for a big prize. Additionally, we’re going to start giving away larger SWAG items when attendance is over 25 people a month.

I’m curious to hear other people’s suggestions for growing a user group. Let me know in the comments!
HRNUG Nov 10th with Kevin Hazzard

Posted on October 29th, 2009 by Kevin

Here is everything you need to know about the next Hampton Roads .NET Users Group meeting! Food and drinks will be provided! Please RSVP!

Sharing Data Validations Throughout an Application

Date: November 10th, 2009
Welcome Time: 6:00pm
Meeting Start: 6:30pm

RSVP Now!

You write data validation code in your user interfaces to provide a good user experience. Then you write similar validation code in your services because other clients may not implement those validations in the future. Then you write the same data validations again in the database, well, let’s face it, because DBAs are justifiably paranoid about the quality of their data. During this talk, Kevin Hazzard will show you how implement your data validations in a way that they can be shared across all the tiers of your enterprise applications.

Kevin Hazzard, C# MVP, is an accomplished software architect and a dynamic public speaker. Kevin has developed successful software products for Intel, Sony, HBO, Disney, The Discovery Channel and many other companies. His healthcare and telecommunications software is used by millions of people each day. Kevin has won patents for his work and has served multiple terms as an advisor to the legislatures and the Governors of the Commonwealth of Virginia. While serving in the Intel Architecture Labs, Kevin represented the company before the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). In his spare time, Kevin enjoys welding, motorcycling, swimming and serving as a missionary doing construction work in Central America and South America.
Pillars of Community Involvement: Part I

Posted on August 7th, 2009 by Kevin

As part of my preparation for my presentation “Living In The Developer Community”, I’m introducing the idea of the “Pillars of Community Involvement”. Basically, the “pillars” are a way for determine what level of involvement you have inside the developer community, and what you can do to get more involved (essentially “move” between the pillars").

First Pillar: The Solo Coder

This pillar contains two type of people: those unaware of the community and those unable or unwilling to participate in the community. I encapsulate them under the same pillar because they are not involved in the community at all.

Let’s start with those unwilling to participate. They are solo coders. They are the nine to fiver. Software development is a job, not a career. They do not have the drive to learn new technologies and be consistently on top of their game. Daily coding problems are typically solved by Googling various keywords, reading forums, etc. If a problem cannot be solved through Google-fu, then it is a problem that didn’t need solving. Why be involved in a community when you do not have passion for what you do on a daily basis? I don’t mean for that statement to start a flame war, because I’m sure there are solo coders out there that are very passionate about what they do. However, the lack of effort to make it to a free community event shows something. Maybe the event is too far away (I talk about this later). Maybe it’s at a bad time of the month. Maybe you just don’t care.

Since I cover the first excuse later, I’ll talk about the last too. User groups, code camps, and other community events are typically scheduled at a time that is flexible for the venue and for the majority of the people who would be able to attend. You typically don’t find a user group meeting scheduled on a Monday or a Friday because people generally don’t show up on those days. Realistically, Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday are the best days because they are in middle of the week and more people show up. Saturday’s are perfect for all day events because people don’t need to take time off work to attend. Community leaders really do think about these things when scheduling meetings and events.

It’s impossible for community leaders to accommodate several schedules. That’s why we maintain a consistent schedule. HRNUG is scheduled for every second Tuesday of the month. I guarantee we will always have a meeting, even if it’s a roundtable chat/discussion. Want to come to HRNUG but can’t until November? That meeting has already been scheduled, you just need to plan for it. Does the event interfere with your favorite sports team playing? Try DVR, Tivo, or VCR! Come out and hang with us for 2 hours. It’ll be there waiting for you when you get home, and you don’t have to deal with pesky commercials. Need to go home to let the dog out? Leave work a little bit early. Tell you’re boss that you’re attending a free training session, and I doubt he/she would have a problem.

Talk with your user group leader about special interest groups or brown bag lunches. In the next month or two, HRNUG is going to plan for a community lunch. Come out, eat, and let’s talk about stuff we all enjoy! Special interest groups can be used to discuss certain subjects more in depth. The Raleigh developer community has several SIGs, and I think it’s an awesome idea. As the community in Hampton Roads grows, we’ll definitely going to look at possibility forming a SIG or two. There’s several ways to be involved, you just need to find them.

So what about the person that doesn’t care at all about the community? I don’t think there is much we can do to change that. Let’s imagine though, for example, that you’re interviewing for a development position. The hiring process comes down to two folks. You and another person. You are slightly more qualified for the position than the other person. However, the other person is involved in the developer community. Which candidate is worth more to the company? Naturally, you would say you were. You’re more qualified! I would say the other person is. Worth is measured several different ways. However, I would rather hire a community involved person than someone who is not (or doesn’t want to be). Why? They are typically more up to date on new technologies, methodologies, and software development ideas. Their potential network is much larger than yours. By them being involved, they are promoting my company by working for me. My company gets more exposure by having a community involved person than not having one. That’s worth a lot.

I tend to put a lot of value on the networking aspect of the community. Let’s say for example, I have an issue with an ASP.NET site I’m working on. Something’s not working, and I’ve exhausted all avenues I had to find the answer. I could post my question/issue to Twitter, and within ten minutes I can receive five replies from people who want to help me solve my problem. Not only that, but several of these people are ASP.NET MVPs. By being an MVP, it means you’ve been recognized by the community and by Microsoft for your expertise and willingness to help others in the community. There is a lot of value in having a network of experts in several areas of software development.

(Good place for a coffee break. Sorry this is such a long article!)

What if you ARE passionate about what you do, want to be involved, but simply don’t know that the community exists? There are tons of resources available to help you. Let’s start simple with Google. Typing in the query "Hampton Roads User Group” (notice I didn’t say .NET, Ruby, or whatever). The first result (for me) is the Hampton Roads .NET Users Group. Congrats! You found a user group. Go to the site, and you’ll have information about our next meeting. Additionally, you would’ve found the Hampton Roads SQL Server and Sharepoint User Group, and the Hampton Roads LEGO Users Group (how fun!).

Next, I would recommend using Community Megaphone (http://www.communitymegaphone.com) to find IT related events in your area. This project was started by Andrew Duthie, the Microsoft Developer Evangelist for the Mid-Atlantic region. While Andrew is a Microsoft employee, the events listed on CM are not limited to Microsoft technologies. Any IT related event can be posted. If you’re going out of town, CM is a great resource for finding events whenever you might be. PROTIP: Andrew uses GeoRSS for all events, which can be easily plugged into a GeoRSS-enabled application to find events near you.

Lastly, your fellow developers are a great resource. Numerous members of HRNUG found us through word of mouth. Odds are that if you’re a developer, you have at least one or two developer friends in the area. Ask them if they know about any events or groups in the area.

What if the closest event to you is 2 hours away? Before I started HRNUG, the closest user group community to me was the Richmond crowd. It’s exactly a two hour drive for me from my work to the Richmond .NET User Group. I was hesitant the first time I made the drive. Two hours is a long time there, and a long time back. I’ve been going back every month for a year and a half. I go for the community and the friend’s I’ve made. In times of deadlines, design meetings, and endless scope creep, that user group meeting is the only thing I look forward to.

Now the question is posed to existing community folks: how do we keep these first timers? I’ve retold my first user group story many many times, but I think it’s important. As I said above, I drove two hours up to the Richmond .NET Users Group meeting. I eventually found the building. No signs were posted for the meeting location. I ended up following several geeky looking people to find the meeting (and I mean that in the nicest way possible). I stood in the door of the meeting room, and there were a handful of people already there. Then all of a sudden, a gentleman came up to me and said Hi. He shook my hand. That man was Kevin Hazzard, and he welcomed me into the community.

The real kicker was the next month, when I decided to make the 2 hour trek to Richmond again. Kevin came up to me, remembered my name, and welcomed me back. That’s how you keep someone in the community. Welcome them in. At every HRNUG meeting, I do my best to say hello and welcome to everyone coming through the door. If they’re taking the time out of their schedule to come to the meeting, it’s the least I could do. I’ve made several friends through doing this.

The first pillar is the easiest to get out of. Get up and get involved. By just showing up is being involved. The support of the community makes the community what it is, and it’s the only way we’re going to grow.
Presenting at HRNUG tomorrow night

Posted on February 9th, 2009 by Kevin

Tomorrow (2/10/2009) night I will be presenting at my user group, Hampton Roads .NET Users Group. If you’re in the area, please come down to join us! We’re being sponsored by TEKSystems this month. They’ll be providing food and drinks for anyone.

I’m going to be giving my “What Is This WPF Thing?!” presentation, which is meant to be a firestarter for getting started with WPF. It’s a basic discussion of what WPF is, how does it look, and what can it do. Since I’m not much of a powerpoint person, it’s all going to be demos (example apps and my own stuff). This is the same presentation I’m going to be giving in Roanoke next month!

http://www.hrnug.org